PVC's every day

Long story short... in December 2011 I had a panic attack while in the sauna where it felt like I couldn't catch my breathe. For a few months after that, I felt like I couldn't breathe right and I would sometimes wake up out of breath. I was told I probably had acid reflux and was put on Prevacid OTC 30 mg once daily. I stopped taking that after a while because I felt like it was not helping. One night while at college, I drove myself to the ER and told them I felt like I couldn't breathe. I was hooked up to an EKG which showed nothing and then had a chest x-ray, which was normal too. They said I was just having anxiety symptoms and sent me back to school with a prescription for Xanax. My problems didn't stop so I was put on Nexium 40 mg, but eventually stopped taking that after about a month. I still did not feel right so I went to a cardiologist and had a stress echo and EKG done, which came out normal. I also had blood work, which came out normal. I can't remember if it was before or soon after I stopped taking the Nexium that my dreaded PVC's began to happen.

At first, I was terrified and thought I was dying. I went home from school for summer and had a 24-hour holter monitor. It said I had 8 PVC's over the 24 hours but they were benign and they told me I should not worry. Over the next few months, I had some good days and some bad days, but I always had at least a few PVC's every day. I seemed to be getting better until I went away to my camp in the Adirondacks and accidentally cut my hand badly, which ended up needing stitches. The PVC's got worse and worse the entire week I was at camp. When I got home, they were still bad and over the next month seemed to get worse. I ended up going to the ER and was told my potassium level was very slighly low at 3.4 (normal is considered 3.6 - 5.2). I was hooked up to a heart monitor for an hour and every time I felt a "skipped" beat, I could clearly see it on the heart monitor. After an hour, the doctor came into my room and said they did not see anything unusual and gave me 40 mg of potassium to take.

They sent the results to a cardiologist who called me the next day and assured me that everything was fine and I should not worry. That day, I did not have 1 PVC and it was the best feeling in the entire world. However, the next day they returned and I had about 10-15, which isn't a lot for me. Over the next few days, they seemed to increase a bit and once I moved back into college about a week later, they have gotten worse.

All of the doctor's say it is being caused by stress. They gave me 50 mg Luvox to take once every morning and I have now been on it for almost 2 weeks but I don't think it has improved my situation at all. It has just given me diarrhea.

Does anyone know what could be causing me to have PVC's every day? It's literally driving me insane. I feel like a stomach problem from taking Nexium and Prevacid and stopping suddenly without weening myself off is what caused my PVC's to begin. Someone please help me because at this point I don't even know what to do anymore.

Hello all my fellow PVC friends. I get so frustrated in the darn things but I am assured they are harmless from a long list of tests and the best heart doctor ever. BUT it sure does put a damper on life. I have found that foods do cause more. Like Pizza..pasta too much at a time. I use Metropole 25mg 3 x a day and it helps but getting tired..stress or anxious cause them to come on. I have been 1 year now with no long term out break but sure have missed out on so much as the last time I had them constant I ended up in the ER and went through many tests and family questions...I got a lot of the chance of having them come from your parents. My Dad had them. Anyway we just need to keep have each other to support our fears and reinforce the fact they are okay but not nice.

Yes, it is the most annoying thing in the world. I have had them on and off for years and recently they've been worse than ever. I have thousands of them a day. And when I feel my pulse it's REALLY scarey because the beats are so out of whack - and the heart rate seems to slow down, then speed up. It's hard to believe they are harmless but I do believe they are stress related - whenever I'm in a particularly stressful situation they just flare up like crazy.....when I'm relaxed and enjoying myself, they seem to go away - or at least I don't feel them anymore. I always think I'm just going to drop dead some day like you hear of people doing every so often. It's terrible to live with this fear every day but no matter what docs say, they scare me ALOT. But this forum is great for relieving some of the panic about them.